The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 58 I know what this technique is
"Haha, these two newbies are really good at causing trouble!"

"O'Neal punches Tang, he's going to get a technical foul this time."

"The referee needs to be stricter, otherwise he won't be able to keep these two rookies under control."

Larry Bird and two other NBC commentators were amused and made fun of the situation.

In 1991, the league introduced the flagrant foul rule. Although the rule for escalating fouls into Level 1 and Level 2 was not yet introduced, it was still possible to eject a player from the game.

After O'Neal scrambled to his feet, the expressionless referee gave him a boxing foul, which was an unsportsmanlike foul, and the Hornets got one free throw and possession.

Shaquille O'Neal, looking young and dejected, was then substituted by head coach Guokas.

The referee then walked up to Tang Bei, his face stern, and warned, "Number 88, you'd better behave yourself and not cause any trouble."

Tang Bei explained expressionlessly, "My actions didn't constitute a foul at all. He pulled me and then punched me, right?"

The referee snorted and walked away.

The Magic brought in backup center Greg Kate, a 31-year-old white veteran, a role player, 211 cm tall, and weighing only 113 kg.

At that moment, NBC began to replay the game in slow motion on the overhead screen, and O'Neal, who had returned to the bench, stared at the overhead screen with his mouth agape.

When he saw that Tang Bei hadn't pushed him with his hand, but had only swept his right arm with his elbow, he felt a little embarrassed.

Larry Bird said, "It's safe to say that this level of elbow movement is not a foul at all. The Mailman's elbow was ten times more vicious than Don's elbow."

"This elbow movement does produce a pushing effect on the body," said Maffeo Albert with a smile. "But it's not actually a pushing motion; it's just normal contact."

Bill Russell said, "O'Neal misunderstood; he thought Tang pushed him. But then again, calling an elbow strike wasn't a mistake, since Tang did raise his elbow."

At this point, head coach Alan Bristol substituted Kendall Gill with Dell Curry, and then used Curry to give instructions to the team, starting the offense from the inside.

The NBA, even now, has always been an era of traditional centers, and offense has always been from the inside out.

In other words, the inside players attack first, and if they can't attack from the inside, then the outside players attack from the outside. The proportion of three-pointers and long two-pointers is very low.

Therefore, his instructions were immediately carried out by the players on the field.

Tang Bei made the free throw, making it 3-2, and then the Hornets attacked.

Next, Tang Bei and Larry Johnson each scored a basket, and Curry drove to the basket for a successful layup, scoring 6 points in two minutes.

The Magic, on the other hand, made only 1 of 3 shots, scoring just 2 points.

With the Hornets leading 9-4, the Magic called a timeout and brought in Shaquille O'Neal, who had already committed two fouls in the first quarter.

"Humph!"

Facing Tang Bei, O'Neal snorted and began to establish position in the low post on the left wing.

Last time, after exhausting a lot of energy, I only managed to get my left foot in half a foot, and my attack time was limited to three seconds. It would have been better not to go in at all.

This time, he didn't try to get deep into the box; he just positioned himself outside the left sideline of the penalty area to receive the ball.

Bill Russell immediately said, "Shaq can't easily get deep post up against Tang's strong defense."

On the court, point guard Skiles was a decent guy; when the rookie asked for the ball, he passed it to him.

O'Neal gets the ball and starts backing down Tang Bei.

His idea was to use his explosive power to attack Tang Bei, which was his strongest quality. Combined with his size, it was incredibly powerful and unstoppable in the NCAA.

Tang Bei overturned the rookie camp, and he is still unconvinced, extremely unconvinced.

During his dribbling, O'Neal's first post-up move was neither too strong nor too weak.

This was a test for him, a way to sense Tang Bei's defensive strength through physical contact, in order to prevent Tang Bei from suddenly removing the chair.

"Oh!"

Despite the impact, Tang Bei's feet remained firmly planted, with only his upper body swaying slightly.

I'll knock you over!

The next moment, as he dribbled the ball again, O'Neal slammed his left shoulder backward with all his might. The fierce explosiveness combined with his weight created a huge impact in an instant.

But at that very moment, Tang Bei suddenly performed a Tai Chi turn.

His lightning-fast turn allowed him to narrowly avoid O'Neal's second post-up.

This time, however, he did not use his elbows to exert control. Instead, he used the strength of his torso to squeeze O'Neal while spinning, continuing to disrupt his opponent's center of gravity and achieve his goal of controlling him.

Therefore, when he turned around, his shoulder remained in contact with O'Neal's body.

"what?"

O'Neal missed the target, flipped backward, and was horrified.

"Oh, Tang, get off the bench! O'Neal made a mistake!" Larry Bird shouted. At that moment, Tang Bei grabbed the ball O'Neal had dropped and passed it to the nearest player, David Wingate, for the Hornets' attack.

An embarrassed and annoyed O'Neal got up and chased after him.

"Bang!"

Dell Curry received a pass from Wingate, drove to the right wing beyond the three-point line, and attempted a pull-up jumper for a three-pointer, but unfortunately missed, resulting in a +1.

Tang Bei charged into the restricted area like a mad horse, leaped up, grabbed the bouncing basketball with both hands, and slammed it towards the rim.

"boom!"

Amidst the fierce slamming of the basket, the massive basket frame, like a delicate flower branch, easily bowed its slender waist in front of Tang Bei.

"Oh!"

When the basketball hoop sank, countless fans at the home stadium gasped in alarm, worried that their own basketball hoop would collapse again.

"This bastard!"

By the time O'Neal arrived, it was too late.

He was extremely frustrated, not understanding why he had fallen to the ground again. Did Tang have some kind of magic?

Larry Bird praised, "A very beautiful offensive and defensive play. Between O'Neal and Tang, Tang is currently performing a bit better."

"O'Neal seemed to play passively against Tang, and Tang repeatedly benched him on offense," said Marv Albert. "Is this a matter of experience?"

The two looked at Bill Russell, hoping the legendary center would give them an answer.

The Magic then inbounded the ball and called a timeout.

The players' morale was low, so they needed a break, and the timeout also served to disrupt the Hornets' momentum.

Bill Russell considered: "Logically speaking, O'Neal has more experience, but he did play more passively."

"Yes."

The other two nodded.

Bill Russell continued, "Tang's turnaround speed is very fast, faster than O'Neal's. He not only uses his turnaround and footwork very well on offense, but also on defense."

Larry Bird immediately agreed, saying, "That's right, I noticed that when he was pulling the bench away on the defensive end, he didn't back down, he turned around."

“Yes, Larry, you have a very keen eye.” Bill Russell nodded appreciatively at Larry Bird.

At this moment, the on-screen display began replaying the attack and defense sequence, and Bill Russell said:

“Look, when Tang turned around, he didn’t break physical contact with O’Neal, which is different from the usual way of removing a chair.”

"God, is he intentionally maintaining his rivalry with O'Neal at this moment?" said Albert in surprise.

Larry Bird's face showed surprise. Based on his experience, he analyzed, "He not only removed the chair, but also used physical contact to further compress O'Neal's center of gravity, forcing him to make a mistake?"

Bill Russell nodded approvingly and said, "He used a turn to get to O'Neal's side and then used continuous physical contact to disrupt O'Neal's balance, that should be it."

After a moment's thought, Maffeo Albert said, "This kind of defense applies resistance through shoulder contact, but there is no shoulder-slamming motion or elbow swing, so it is not a foul."

Larry Bird said, "The time Tang was called for a foul before, he moved his right elbow, but this time he neither lowered his shoulder nor moved his elbow, so it was absolutely normal physical contact."

Bill Russell then said, "What we don't know now is whether he did it unintentionally or... intentionally."

If it was intentional, then using this technique would give him an advantage in his matchup against O'Neal, directly causing O'Neal's offense to become very passive and prone to frequent turnovers.

Suddenly, Albert said, "I've watched the game footage from the All-Rookie Camp. O'Neal fell to Tang's feet twice, and one of those times should have been like this."

The other two were silent for a moment, then Russell said, "That must have been intentional. Tang is good at using such subtle techniques."

Larry Bird continued, "This technique is being used for the first time on a basketball court; it's groundbreaking, just like how Don appeared in the NBA."

After thinking for a moment, Albert said, "Michael Brin said before that Tang's turnaround attack on the basket is like a tornado, unstoppable."

Now he's adding other techniques to this turning technique, I mean techniques for maintaining physical resistance while turning...

He uses these techniques on both the defensive and offensive ends, and I believe the purpose of using these techniques is to throw the opponent off balance.

“A technique to disrupt the center of gravity,” Bill Russell nodded.

“I wonder what kind of technique this is. I’m very curious,” Larry Bird said.

At this moment, Albert adjusted his headset, listened for a moment, and said in surprise, "I know what this technique is."

"What technique?"

The other two looked over curiously.

(End of this chapter)